When documents such as copies or prints which are produced by a copying machine or a printing machine are fed into a document handling apparatus which is provided with a folding machine or a stapling machine, it is possible that the documents may be conveyed in a folding machine of the document handling apparatus in a direction which is different from the direction in which the documents are delivered from a copying machine. Hence, there is some document handling apparatus in which the documents delivered thereto are conveyed in a different direction in order to feed them into a folding machine.
A document conveying means which is used in a conventional document handling apparatus of this type includes inlet feed roller pairs and delivery roller pairs which deliver the documents in a different direction from the feed direction, each pair comprising a vertically spaced conveyor roller and a feed roller. An arrangement is made such that the respective feed rollers are movable toward or away from their associated conveyor rollers in each of the inlet roller pairs and delivery roller pairs at the point where the document changes direction, and the rotating drive to the conveyor rollers can be interrupted so that when a document is being fed in, the feed roller of the delivery roller pairs which is located at the point of the change of direction of the document can be moved away from the delivery roller while the rotating drive to the latter is interrupted. Conversely, when the document is being delivered, the feed roller, of the inlet roller pairs which is located at the point of directional change can be moved away from the associated conveyor rollers while interrupting the rotating drive to the latter rollers.
Conventional document conveyor means used in a document handling apparatus of this kind requires a mechanism including a combination of electromagnets and linkages which move the feed roller or rollers toward or away from their associated conveyor rollers, an electromagnetic clutch to interrupt the rotating drive to the conveyor rollers, or a complex control circuit for controlling these elements, resulting in an increased size of the arrangement and a poor reliability, durability and maintenance capability, and increased production costs.